


Only An Ocean Away

by grump_ass



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Other, autistic herc (not outright mentioned), gender queer laf, herc and james are twins, pen pal au, the queer kids, trans james
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-15
Updated: 2016-06-15
Packaged: 2018-07-15 05:00:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7208774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grump_ass/pseuds/grump_ass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hercules didn't know his pen pal would be the love of his life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only An Ocean Away

**Author's Note:**

> Calliope=James

On the last day of his third week as a fourth grader, Hercules’ teacher passed out names and addresses. 

 

“I’ve decided to assign pen pals to you all. They come from all over the world; some of them don’t even speak English as a first language!”

 

Hercules wasn’t very impressed by this, but was intrigued by the name on his paper. 

 

Gilbert Lafayette. From France. Hercules smiled. He always thought France was a pretty country; maybe Gilbert had been to Paris before.

 

“Bring your letters to me on Monday, and I will ship them,” the teacher said when the bell rang. Hercules packed his bag before taking his paper and walking out, looking down at the sheet occasionally. 

 

When he reached Calliope’s class, she raised her eyebrows at the sheet.

 

“Did you get a pen pal too?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Where from?”

 

“France. His name is Gilbert.”

 

Calliope wrinkled her nose.

 

“Mine’s from Virginia. That’s, like, only a few states away.”

 

“That’s still pretty cool.”

 

“It’s not France cool, though.”

 

Hercules shrugged at his twin, walking out to the front of the school to wait for their mom to pick them up. When he got home, he started working on his letter at the kitchen table, with Calliope struggling through her own.

 

“I don’t know what to say,” she complained softly, “He’s still in the United States. I know all about the United States.”

 

Their mother, in the kitchen helping their father prepare dinner, spoke up; “Virginia is still different from New York. Maybe he can tell you all about Virginia, and you can tell him about New York.”

 

“Maybe,” Calliope muttered, but the advice definitely helped Hercules; he could just tell Gilbert about New York. He had probably never been to New York before anyway.

 

_ Dear Gilbert, _

 

_ Im Hercules Mulligan. I’m in the 4th grade in New York. I have a mom and a dad, and a twin sister named Calliope. I also have a cat named Mittens. I like drawing and playing with my sister, and my best friend John. I am nine years old. _

 

_ I live in New York. The city is really big, but I don’t go there a lot. I go for trips a lot. Especially for school. But sometimes my family goes together.  _

 

_ What is France like? _

 

_ Hercules Mulligan _

 

While his mother cringed at the multitude of spelling errors, she ultimately approved of the letter and put in an envelope, alongside a picture of Hercules holding Mittens herself. She put the letter in his binder, ready for Monday. Their dad helped Calliope finish off her letter to Thomas quickly. They turned the letters in on Monday. 

 

A week and a half later, Hercules got back a letter. He had to ask his mother to read it for him, thanks to the spelling errors and poorly translated English. 

 

_ Dear Hercules, _

 

_ My name is Gilbert Lafayette. I live in Paris and am in CM1. My maman and I live with my grandparents, but my maman works a lot. I don’t have any pets. I have a friend named Adrienne. I am also nine years old.  _

 

_ France has a lot of hills and flowers. We have a lot of dogs. Except for me. Because we live in the city, we live in a big building with other people. I think there is an English word for that, but I don’t know what it is. _

 

_ Gilbert Lafayette _

 

Hercules found a letter of a small boy folded in. The child had springy curls and a wild smile. He wore a school uniform, but was scaling a tree in the process. Hercules was impressed.

 

Calliope seemed fairly satisfied with her pen pal. 

 

“He seems okay. He has a lot of siblings. I think his mom made him take a fancy picture instead of a normal one though.”

 

Hercules laughed, but inside he was already planning his next letter to Gilbert.

 

_ Dear Gilbert, _

 

_ I think the word you are looking for is Apartment. _

* * *

 

 

When Hercules got Gilbert’s phone number after two months of writing, he begged his mother to let him call. After little to no prodding on his part, his mother agreed. 

 

“It looks like we can video message him,” she said, “Would you prefer that?”

 

Hercules nodded. She sat him up with her phone and called the number.

 

When it picked up, Hercules was greeted by Gilbert’s smiling face. 

 

“Hello,” Gilbert chirped.

 

Hercules waved shyly. 

 

“You are Hercules, correct?” If the language seemed formal to Hercules, he didn’t seem to care; he knew that Gilbert was trying to learn English. 

 

“Yes.”

 

“Are you okay? You are not talking very much right now.”

 

Hercules flushed, and his father, who was watching nearby, leaned over.

 

“Hercules gets very quiet sometimes. He isn’t bored right now.”

 

“Oh, okay.”

 

Gilbert smiled widely at Hercules, and the boy felt something twisting in his gut at the other’s genuine display of affection.

 

“You are very, how do you say, nice looking?”

 

Hercules flushed again. Nobody had ever called him nice looking.

 

“Uhm. Attractive,” he squeaked, unaware of his father’s laughing.

* * *

 

In the middle of their eighth year, Lafayette stopped their vocabulary practice to come out.

 

“I’ve been spending a lot of time on the internet,” they began, “And I don’t think I am a boy or a girl.”

 

Hercules hesitated before speaking; “That’s okay. I don’t care, obviously.” He hadn’t cared when Calliope started being James, after all. 

 

“I think I want you to use they instead of he now. And just Lafayette.”

 

“Okay.”   
  


“Thank you, Hercules.”

 

“Of course, Lafayette.”

 

They beamed.

* * *

 

 

Hercules was beginning to doubt that his feelings for Lafayette were solely platonic. When he had the third dream that week about them kissing them breathless, he decided that it may be time to address those feelings. He went to James first.

 

James snorted. “No shit, you like them. You’ve liked them for fucking ever.”

 

“I wasn’t aware of this.”

 

“Oh, of course you weren’t.”

 

“What do I do?”

 

“Tell them how you feel? Worst comes to worst, they live an ocean away. You’ll be fine.”

 

Hercules called Lafayette up with the full intent to tell them.

 

“Lafayette-”

 

“Herc, I have a very important thing to say.”

 

“...okay. You go first.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Of course-”

 

“I like you.”

 

“What.”

 

“I like you. Like, a lot. Adri told me to tell you before I bugged her about it again.”

 

Hercules gaped at his friend.

 

“...Are we okay? I’m sorry, was that weird-”

 

“Me too!”   
  


“...what?”

 

“I like you too. I was gonna tell you- I like you too Lafayette.”

 

Hercules had never seen Lafayette look so flustered.

 

“OH,” was all that they could say. Hercules smiled at the flustered frenchperson.

* * *

 

 

Hercules had never seen James so excited. He would have to text Lafayette all about it later. For now, James was practically vibrating.

 

“I can’t believe I’m gonna see him,” James gushed, tugging at his binder through his shirt. Hercules smiled at his brother, carefully making a right turn and pulling into a parking spot. He got out and texted Lafayette.

 

“Made it in one piece. James is bouncing a lot.”

 

“Wow,” they replied, “He must be very excited to meet Thomas.”

 

“He really is. It’s adorable.”

 

“Herc, cmon,” James urged, “Thomas said he’s waiting at the gate.”

 

Hercules tucked his phone away and followed James across the pick up lane and into the airport. After searching through the crowd, Hercules’ eyes locked on a wild head of curls and a magenta scarf James had sent Thomas two years before. He nudged his brother, who followed his gaze before bolting.

 

Hercules watched, face splitting into a wide grin when Thomas ran to James and threw his arms around the smaller boy, A chorus of joyus shouts rang out through the airport, and Hercules barely remembered to take a picture of the two for Lafayette.

 

While he wished that it was him and Lafayette screaming in a busy airport, he figured he could wait for it. For now, he would text Lafayette to fill the loneliness. 

 

He sent them the picture.

 

“Wish this was me and you.”

 

They responded. 

 

“Me too, amour.”

 

Hercules looked up to the rapidly approaching James and Thomas, James had decided to smother Thomas’ face in kisses while they walked, and Hercules snickered. 

 

“They’re basically making out in the busy ass airport.”

 

“I can see that. I’m literally standing behind you right now.”

 

Hercules’ stomach dropped. He looked over his shoulder, and saw a very smiley Lafayette in the crowd. His phone shook and he looked down. The fucking nerd was still texting him.

 

“Aren’t you glad your parents keep secrets well. Thomas helped me sneak around while James distracted you. It was, how do you say, a full scale operation?”

  
The smug french bastard. He was going to kiss the smile off of their perfect face, busy airport be mother fucking damned. With the grace of a newborn gazelle, he sprinted across the baggage claim to Lafayette, prepared to hold them close forever and never let them go.

**Author's Note:**

> not my best, sorry
> 
> on Tumblr at grump-ass


End file.
